Hargrove Doubles Up In St. Petersburg

Scott Hargrove leads the Cooper Tires USF2000 Championship Powered by Mazda field into turn one on the streets of St. Petersburg, Fla., on Sunday morning. (USF2000 Photo)

ST. PETERSBURG, Fla. – The weather was drastically different this morning when the Cooper Tires USF2000 Championship Powered by Mazda contenders assembled for the Peninsula Pipeline Grand Prix of St. Petersburg.

The oppressive mugginess of Saturday afternoon had been replaced by cool, misty conditions, but that made little difference to Scott Hargrove who once again left his competitors far behind as he drove to a clear victory for locally based team Cape Motorsports with Wayne Taylor Racing.

Hargrove, who had started from the pole, led all 21 green-flag laps around the 1.8-mile, 14-turn street circuit to claim his third win from four starts this season.

The 18-year-old has already eked out a commanding lead in the point standings, 122 to 79, over top rookie Wyatt Gooden who claimed his second successive podium finish for the rapidly emerging Minnesota-based Afterburner Autosport team.

Another Canadian teenager, 15-year-old Jesse Lazare, completed the podium after another extremely impressive drive for Pabst Racing Services.